IBM® Interactive System Productivity Facility, or ISPF, provides host-based software development, including software configuration management. With ISPF, you can manipulate source code and data stored on a host and work with interactive applications called dialogs. Programmers can use ISPF to develop and document batch and interactive programs. IBM Z® systems administrators and systems programmers can use ISPF to monitor and control program libraries and communications with IBM z/OS®.
Develop end user dialogs and display capabilities using ISPF Dialog Manager, without having to code display functions.
Work directly with source code and data stored on the host through Program Development Facility (PDF), a panel-driven menu interface and service facility.
Take advantage of a powerful ISPF z/OS UNIX Directory List Utility that supports processing of directories and files in a z/OS UNIX directory structure.
Use the Interactive ISPF Gateway to enable applications to run programs that are interactive, issuing TSO/ISPF conversational mode commands.
- ISPF Dialog Manager to develop end user dialogs
- Program Development Facility (PDF) panel-driven interface
- Support for z/OS UNIX directories and files
- Interactive ISPF Gateway
- ISPF PDSE V2 member generations enhancements (New in z/OS 3.1)
- ISPF enhancement for Pervasive Encryption data set allocation (New in z/OS 3.1)
- Case-insensitive sort for ISPF UNIX directory list (New in z/OS 3.1)
ISPF Dialog Manager provides services to dialogs and users, including display, variable services, input and output and more. It controls the interaction of dialog elements and can issue requests. You can verify, process and store input and output—and use ISPF as a simplified data management system. It offers an edit recovery service and enables you to edit or browse data that is neither a sequential nor a partitioned data set (PDS).
With PDF, you can bypass browse mode on view entry and edit entry panels. PDF features Edit Recovery Handling (EDREC) to recover work and Browse Interface (BRIF) and the Edit Interface (EDIF) to allow dialogs to provide their own I/O. It enables functions such as edit/browse of data other than PDS or sequential files, edit/browse of in-storage data, and pre- and post-processing of edited or browsed data. Library access services interact with browse and edit services to access libraries and data.
In addition to support for IBM z/OS® data sets, ISPF provides a powerful z/OS UNIX Directory List Utility that supports processing of directories and files in a z/OS UNIX directory structure. With the release of z/OS V2R2, this includes the capability to view mounted file systems in an expandable/collapsible format.
ISPF provides a thin gateway service that enables applications to start a TSO address space, send a TSO or ISPF command as input, and receive a response as output. Callers of this service will typically be applications that are serving remote clients that want to issue TSO or ISPF commands. New in z/OS V2R2 is the Interactive ISPF Gateway that provides an improved ISPF gateway service that can be used to run programs that are interactive, issuing TSO/ISPF conversational mode commands.
ISPF support for PDSE V2 member generations are enhanced to allow the specification of generation numbers in the Edit and View panels and on the Edit and Browse primary commands BROWSE, EDIT, and VIEW. Additionally, a generation list can be viewed for members with generations, allowing the use of line commands to access commonly-used functions for desired generations. Select ISPF services are also enhanced with additional member generations information.
Support for Pervasive Encryption is improved in z/OS 3.1 by allowing the provision of the data set key label on the ISPF Allocate New Data Set and Define Cluster panels.
Viewing of large UNIX directory lists in ISPF is simplified by providing an option for a case-insensitive sort for the z/OS UNIX Directory List Utility.